1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to surgical instrumentation, and more particularly, to instrumentation for use in spinal surgery and other types of surgical procedures.
2. Background Information
Surgery on the spine is becoming more prevalent as better processes for performing many different types of spinal surgery are developed for procedures such as disk repair, vertebral fracture repair, correcting the effects of osteoporosis, bone grafts, tumor removal, scoliosis, and the like.
Many different types of surgical instruments are used both to clear the field for the surgeon and to allow the spine surgeon access to the region of interest. In a number of cases, a surgeon needs to work at two different levels of the spine. Retractors are typically used to retract muscle and connective tissue in order to provide the surgeon clear visibility of the area of the surgical field. Retractors are designed to be large enough to provide the strength needed to spread or retract muscle and connective tissue without bending, particularly when the surgeon is operating on the spine. However, such strong instruments are usually of a greater thickness and this may act to obstruct the view of the surgeon.
Additionally, another problem arises with respect to ring-type surgical retractors in that they retract the muscle and tissue in a circular region which does not always provide enough visibility in certain procedures. For example, many ring-type retractors operate in a direction of the spine to the stomach. Such retractors include arcuate blades that extend in an arch approximately 40 degrees to 60 degrees around an inner ring thus providing a cylindrical opening along a common axis extending from spine to stomach. However, this does not always provide enough visibility and can still result in muscle and tissue encroaching back into the surgical field during the surgical procedure.
There remains a need, therefore, for an insert in a surgical retractor of the ring type configuration which provides further retraction and thus additional visibility.